Guilty plea in hired hit

A Hull woman was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to attempting to hire a hit man last year to kill her husband, son-in-law and her boyfriend's son.

In an emotionally charged hourlong hearing, Ivy Jean Davis, 67, pleaded guilty to five counts of criminal solicitation to commit murder and confessed to providing $200 to an undercover officer she believed to be a hit man; the money was for him to buy an untraceable gun.

Davis was scheduled to face a jury on Monday. If convicted, she faced 25 years in prison.

Clarke County Superior Court Judge Steve Jones also ordered Davis to serve 20 years' probation with special conditions and pay a $1,000 fine. The first year of her probation must be served under intensive supervision, Jones ruled, and Davis must live at her mother's Virginia Lane home in Hull.

Davis told Western Circuit District Attorney Ken Mauldin she believed her guilty plea was "the Lord's will."

"I wouldn't hurt nobody," Davis said. "I didn't get a chance to do nothing. I'm a very compassionate person."

In her last words to the judge before sentencing, which at times were inaudible, Davis thanked her family for supporting her since her arrest and asked that Jones take her age into consideration before handing down his ruling.

Athens-Clarke police learned of the murder plot May 6, when a man who rents one of Davis' properties in Athens called to report that his landlord asked if he knew someone she could hire to kill her husband, Wallace Davis, and son-in-law, police said.

Authorities said Davis provided the undercover officer with pictures of her husband of 47 years and son-in-law, Sammy Drummond, as well as instructions and a map to their homes. She also attempted to have her boyfriend's son, Billy Harrison, killed, police said.

A sting was set up for the next day, and a hidden video camera recorded the scene as Davis met with the Athens-Clarke police officer posing as a hit man, according to police.

"That tape is chilling," Mauldin said after the hearing. "That undercover officer did an excellent job. He kept asking her, 'Are you sure you want me to do this?' He gave her every opportunity to say no."

Davis' attorney, Thomas A. Camp, argued that a psychiatrist determined his client has a disability that prevents her from having rational thinking. A lifetime of alcohol abuse caused Davis to lose the ability to control her impulses, Camp said.

"All of us at times have evil or sinister thoughts. But most of us have the ability to rationalize why we should not act on those thoughts. Based on her long history of alcoholism, Ms. Davis no longer has that ability," the defense attorney said.

Authorities believe Davis' motive in attempting to hire a hit man was financial.

Her daughter and son-in-law owed Davis "a significant amount of money," Camp said. An indictment said Davis also blamed her son-in-law for turning her daughter against her. A motive never was given for Davis' attempts to have her husband and Harrison killed.

"I don't know why any of this happened. I may never know why. I've lost my entire family ... ," said Jan Drummond, Davis' daughter. "I want my mother to know that no matter what she's done to me to try and destroy me, that I love her still and I always will. But I want her to know that I will deal with this for the rest of my life."